A Florida mother admitted to killing her 11-year-old daughter before attempting to drive to New York, where the child's father lives, according to a report from West Virginia's Pocahontas Times.
Erica Newsome, of Jacksonville, was arrested Sunday after her 11-year-old daughter's body was found near the scene of a traffic crash in West Virginia, police said.
The girl's body was inside a car when Newsome lost control of the vehicle and crashed near and the Virginia border Sunday morning, according to police.
A couple from New York saw Newsome take the child's body out of the car and over an embankment, police said.
“If it hadn’t been for an older couple from New York City who observed the child being removed from the vehicle, we probably would have just thought it was a minor motor vehicle accident with a driver and nobody else,” West Virginia state police Sgt. Fred Barlow said.
Investigators determined that the child was killed in Jacksonville and loaded into the car for the trip.
“The child was placed in the vehicle early Saturday morning and (Newsome) headed toward Buffalo, New York,” Barlow said.
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The Pocahontas Times reported that Newsome asked to speak to the police and said she killed her daughter and had been abusive to her.
Police said Jacksonville authorities went to Newsome’s residence, where they found evidence of the crime.
Detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office traveled to West Virginia on Monday, police said.
The Times reported that Newsome told Trooper D.R. Dillon in a recorded statement that she picked up her daughter, Kaye-lea Plummer, from her bed on Friday and put the little girl in her truck.
According to the newspaper, Newsome also told Dillon that Kaye-lea did not move, eat, drink, speak or use the bathroom for two days.
Authorities have not released a cause of death for the girl, but foul play is suspected. More arrests could be forthcoming in Florida, police said.
“She knew she had vehicle issues and didn’t want to be driving at interstate speeds,” Barlow said. “She decided to stay off major highways, and that’s how she wound up in Thornwood.”
Newsome was arrested and charged with concealment of a dead human being.
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